


12 Months of Us

by LitsyKalyptica



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Human Names Used, Light Angst, More tags to be added, Multi, Petting zoo, a year in the life, basically an all-girl cast, cute gay girls, maybe smut eventually, one or two names are hc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 22:03:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6443557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LitsyKalyptica/pseuds/LitsyKalyptica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“If you had asked me yesterday, I wouldn’t have pegged you the type to love the petting zoo so much.”</p><p>The first year of Carmen and Chiara.</p>
            </blockquote>





	12 Months of Us

**JANUARY**

Carmen thought she wouldn’t miss the snow. Last year’s Christmas in New York seemed so very far away in the mild Los Angeles winter. But seeing the trees and ornaments taken out of shop windows did definitely drag her down with post-Christmas blues.

The kids were back in school now, and Carmen was content to hear the little four- and five-year-olds gush about what Santa left for them, all the toys they had grown tired of in the subsequent two weeks.

Carmen had come to a horribly flawed conclusion that wearing a Christmas sweater would do anything more than make her sweat on the walk from home to school, and school now to the Starbucks on the corner. She would take it off if she was wearing anything decent underneath (and as warm as it was, and as hot as the walk made her, she couldn’t get away with strutting down the street in a camisole). She hoped to just get the coffee and go; the studio Juli was working at would surely have an air-conditioned empty room wear she could peel off the accursed garment and cool down a bit. Maybe she could even borrow Juli’s button-up -were they close enough to share clothes yet? Probably.

Seattle-born Juli swore by Starbucks; Carmen wouldn’t touch it again, but she was paying today. She ordered two, in case Camille did show up at the studio after all; completely inept when it comes to ordering, it took even longer than the long line fated. She was just happy to finally get out of there.

The studio was still a few blocks away, and Carmen was a little comforted to see that they hadn’t taken the lights down from the street lamps. The sun was down, and they were twinkling overhead like stars.

* * *

“You’re a godsend.” Juli could’ve swallowed the whole drink right there, and Carmen had to lower the cup to keep her friend from choking on it. “Camille’s not here yet.” The caffeine was already affecting the albino photographer. “Just head in through that door-” (she pointed in a general direction toward three or four different doors) “and wait, she’ll be here…”

Carmen had no idea which door she had pointed to, and almost thought to ask before Juli hurried to set up the cameras for the final set. Carmen just headed to the closest one and prayed it was the right room.

It was actually the bathroom, where Carmen shrugged and splashed her flushed face with cold water. Drops dripped from her black hair and brown skin and settled at the woollen neckline of her sweater, which was just terribly uncomfortable.

She tried the next door, only to find it locked. That either ruled it out quickly, or Juli had sent her to a room she couldn’t access. Not to doubt her friend, but Carmen did think to just wait outside that bolted door.

The third door did open, but she too suddenly wished it hadn’t. And that she hadn’t brought a second cup of coffee, because as soon as she saw the half-dressed person inside, she dropped it to burst on an expensive-looking carpet.

When the young woman turned and saw Carmen there, she quickly covered up with a robe, cheeks going bright red. “Who- Who the hell are you?” she demanded.

Carmen’s mind didn’t want to pay any attention to the woman shouting at her; no, she was preoccupied with the coffee spilt on the floor, and trying to dry it with her sleeve. “I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered, though which incident she was apologizing for, she didn’t know.

The model stared at her a moment, but one thing became clear to her: this was an accident, and she hadn’t locked the door. Sighing quietly, she came to kneel down in front of the intruder. “Priorities?” she asked, and when Carmen finally looked back up the girl had the slightest hint of a smirk on her face. Just the little twinkle in her hazel eyes had Carmen smiling at her, anxious and biting her lip. She said nothing, so the stranger continued: “You didn’t answer me. Who are you?” In a calmer state she dropped the profanity.

“My, uh, my name’s Carmen. I’m friends with Juli…”

Having satisfied the young woman with the answer, she was rewarded with the other’s name. “Chiara.”

“Sorry for, uh… walking in on you, Chiara.” It felt better to have been appropriately introduced, but she sort of wished the circumstances were less embarrassing. “And for spilling the coffee. This looks like such a nice carpet and definitely expensive.”

Chiara clucked her tongue against the inside of her cheek and shrugged. “Accidents happen. Now get up off the floor.” She herself stood, and held out a delicate hand to pull Carmen to her feet.

It was just as Carmen was standing again that a voice came through the open doorway. “Chiara, five minutes!”

The young model sat down at the vanity and made sure everything was still in order. “I didn’t sit in that chair for two hours for nothing,” she grumbled to herself, smoothing out her top. She caught sight of Carmen, still present, in the mirror. “I think Juli was pointing you to next room over, if you’re waiting for her. We shouldn’t be too long.”

Carmen’s eyes were on the coffee stain again. Chiara smirked to herself and kept up with the last minute touches. David had tied her hair too tight.

Just as Chiara was about to head out, the building manager, complaining about how long Juli and crew were taking up the space, found something smaller and more immediate he could get annoyed with.

“Who the hell dropped Starbucks on the new carpet?”

Carmen flinched.

“I did, Burrows, quit your whining.”

When Carmen opened her eyes, Chiara was standing between her and the imposing man. She might’ve just been trying to get to the shoot, but at the same time she was taking the fall for the accident. Carmen was too shocked to say anything about it.

“It’ll be a hundred to clean it,” the man added, glaring at the small woman. Chiara groaned, rolling her eyes and storming back to the vanity to take the bill out of her purse. She shoved it to his chest and squeezed past him. Annoyed but placated, the manager -Mr. Burrows- stalked away himself.

“Chiara!” Carmen called after her. The girl seemed annoyed to be running late but she turned back around anyway and gave Carmen at least half of her attention.

“I… Thank you. I’ll pay you back, I promise…”

This time she got an actual smile.

“I don’t need the money,” she answered, stepping backward to the set, eyes locked with Carmen’s. “Just leave your number on the vanity and we’ll figure out what time you’ll take me out tomorrow.” She winked and at last turned on a pointed heel toward her photoshoot.

Carmen barely noticed when Camille finally did arrive, but Camille did notice the odd look on her best friend’s face. She chuckled and moved a hand in from of Carmen’s eyes, trying to get her attention. “You okay, love?”

“I think I…” She was feeling kind of fuzzy in confusion and a little giddiness. “I think one of Juli’s models just asked me out…”

Camille nodded and patted the other’s shoulder, not hard but Carmen was feeling so light that it might’ve knocked her over if she hadn’t caught herself. The loss of balance brought her out of the shocked stupor. She tried to drop her bag from her shoulders in search of paper and pen or anything she could write her number with.

“What are you doing?”

“She wants me to leave my number, I need something to write it with!” She dug and dug through her watermelon backpack that maybe looked a little much like those of her students.

“You need to clean out your bag,” Camille teased, reaching into her own more organized purse and pulling out a pen and notepad. While Carmen sighed in small relief and got her things back in “order,” she wrote the number down herself, so she could add a helpful little note.

_Don’t leave me waiting too long to hear your voice~_

“Is this too pushy?” Carmen asked, wincing anxiously. This certainly wouldn’t be her first date -not even the first time she was on this side of the request- but she didn’t want to come off any worse than she already had. (Why Chiara wanted to see her again at all was beyond her).

“Not pushy, eager. It shows you want to see her and so she’ll be quicker in contacting you.”

Carmen was taking a bit of a chance believing her. She trusted Camille’s dating wisdom; it had helped her in the past. So she took a deep breath and tucked the corner of the stationery under Chiara’s purse.

When Juli was finally finished, she left her assistant to pack up the cameras and equipment so the three could go to dinner. Carmen caught sight of Chiara heading out; she waved a little and received a small smile in return.

Until the food arrived at their little table, Carmen could only think about the cute girl who she hoped would call sooner rather than later. Not during dinner, though: that would just be unfortunately awkward.

But the conversation started up as she and her friends livened up with food in their stomachs. Juli started it on Camille’s day: “How’s Maddie doing?”

Even knowing her friend hadn’t meant anything by it, Camille shifted uncomfortably in her chair and dropped her napkin on the table. “She’s doing well… She and Emma have gotten used to sharing the bedroom, now, and they get along great…” Camille had visitation with her four-year-old daughter every other week, no custody. “And Eliza takes good care of them.” Carmen winced seeing how much it hurt her friend to say; Juli saw it, too, and didn’t ask any more questions. Maddie didn’t come up again in conversation, and eventually they took the bus back to their apartment.

The first thing Carmen did when they got home was rip off that godforsaken Christmas sweater. The second thing was collapse into bed. Somehow it was only nine o’clock, and a Friday, no less. She dug her laptop out from between her mattress and the wall and watched YouTube for a while.

Her phone buzzed around ten and Carmen was almost disappointed to see a text message in place of an incoming call. But she was just happy to hear from Chiara already. Before she even read it, though, she saved the number to her contacts: she’d rather read the young woman’s name than a series of otherwise meaningless digits.

[Chiara] sorry i can’t call. Baby sister’s studying. Promised to be quiet  
[Carmen] it’s okay! I’m glad you got home okay. I should’ve asked if i could walk you or something… just to make sure you were safe.  
[Chiara] lol cute. Don’t worry i can handle myself  
[Carmen] yeah i saw how well you handled that guy in the dressing room :)  
[Chiara] oh don’t worry about that bastard. He just wants to complain and extort people for money. Nice studio tho.  
[Carmen] speaking of which are you sure you don’t want me to pay you back?  
[Chiara] don’t make this awkward pls. If you wanna make it up to me you can take me out tomorrow. What time’s good for you?

Carmen was a little flustered by her response. Was she being too awkward? If so then why did Chiara now twice ask to see her again? What would they do if they did go out? Dinner and movies were cliche dates, and Carmen would really like to make a good first impression (well, second impression…)

[Chiara] … hello?  
[Carmen] sorry! 7 tomorrow is good for me.  
[Chiara] sorry i work nights  
[Carmen] 5 then?  
[Chiara] i guess it depends on what we’re gonna do?  
[Carmen] do you wanna

She accidentally sent the message unfinished, and not wanting to appear clueless Carmen had to think up something fast.

[Carmen] go to the zoo?  
[Chiara] huh. Sounds fun. But afternoon probably works better for something like that. 3-ish i guess. I’ll see you tomorrow?  
[Carmen] yeah i’ll see you then! :)  
[Chiara] cute. See you then~

* * *

They did meet at the zoo the next day, and though both enjoyed seeing all the animals they had there, this wasn’t Carmen’s first time around, and she much better enjoyed watching Chiara’s face light up whenever she saw a particularly cute creature.

“If you had asked me yesterday,” Carmen mused, smiling softly, “I wouldn’t have pegged you the type to love the petting zoo so much.”

Chiara didn’t seem to hear her at first, feeding one of the lambs. When she did turn back around her cheeks and nose with rosy and her smile was small but glowing. Carmen’s heart skipped a beat. “I can’t help it,” she answered, trying to hide her smile and stuffing her hands back into her pockets. “They’re so…”

“Cute?”

“Yeah, duh.” She went back to the machine dispensing food for the animals. She’d already spent about two dollars in quarters there. This time Carmen stuck the coin into the slot, paying for Chiara to feed an eager goat. She went on to pay for a few more rounds, Chiara’s handfuls of pellets open to any farmyard creature she came across. A few dollars was well worth the sight.

* * *

“Tell me about yourself?”

Carmen was a little taken aback by the request, and flustered, she answered it with, “Well, what do you want to know?”

They were sitting on a stone wall near a limited edition penguin habitat. They had spent about ten minutes trying to get the birds to waddle toward them, to no avail. Carmen had bought Chiara an ice cream cone, and a Pepsi for herself. Chiara didn’t answer at first, licking at the vanilla soft serve (Carmen had to look quickly away). “Well, you know what I do for work. How about you? What do you do?”

“I teach kindergarten.”

“Aw. You like kids?”

“Yeah, I do.” She didn’t especially want any of her own, but thought that might change in time, when she was a little older and a little more settled. “You?”

Chiara shook her head. “Well, I wouldn’t want any, but I wouldn’t mind being an aunt or something. Not any time soon, though, my sisters are too young for that shit.”

Carmen remembered the other mentioning a sister last night. “How old are your sisters?”

“Daisy’s seventeen and Alessia’s fourteen, so no way in hell are they allowed to have kids yet.”

“My older sister had a kid at seventeen.” The words had come out before she could stop them, and Carmen’s whole face went hot.

Chiara looked at her a moment and laughed. “You just bring that into every conversation?” she teased.

“Not usually,” Carmen answered slowly, trying to laugh it off as well. “I can’t say I really want kids either. I do like them, but only for a couple of hours a day. I don’t know if I could stand to lose sleep to a crying baby.”

“If I get pregnant my career is basically over.” Chiara took another lick of the ice cream.

“Do you like modeling?”

“Hm?” She’d been a little lost in thought.

“Your work. Do you like doing it?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess. Helps pay the bills, and I’m good at it, anyway…” She didn’t seem to want to talk about work much, which was fair enough.

When they did leave the zoo, the sun was slowly setting from the sky, and it gave Carmen an idea. Chiara was about to get off the bus by her apartment (after a quick squeeze of her companion’s hand as a goodbye that set Carmen’s face aflame), but Carmen blurted out instead “Stay on with me? I wanna show you something.”

Chiara frowned in confusion but let the bus keep on driving past her stop.

They kept riding to the beach. Carmen took Chiara’s hand again and eagerly pulled her off the bus.

“What are we doing here?”

“I just thought we could…” Carmen sat down in the sand, “watch the sunset together.”

Chiara almost burst out laughing, but took her shoes off plopped down next to her. “You’re a dork.” But the lower the sun sank over the horizon, the closer Chiara seemed to gravitate toward Carmen. When it was finally dark, and Carmen thought she should probably get her date home, Chiara was asleep against her shoulder. No; she wouldn’t be moving any time soon.

* * *

“Did she say she was gonna be this late?”

Alessia shrugged, largely ignoring her sister in favorite of Mario Kart. She wouldn’t let Penney win another round; Yoshi would not lose to Peach!

Daisy rolled her eyes at the inattention and hovered over the console, finger lightly pressed to the power button. “Pause it.”

Without much other choice, Alessia paused the game. Penney, who had no business in what the sisters were talking about, crossed her arms and sank into the sofa. “Where did she say she was going, anyway?”

“To the zoo, she had a date.” Daisy checked the time. “But that was this afternoon, and she said she’d be home by now.”

“Why do you care?” Chiara was an adult, not a naive child (nineteen now, Chiara was at least a self-proclaimed adult). “So she’s running a little late. You’re not usually so damn serious.”

If she was being honest, at least part of why Daisy cared about Chiara being late was because the older sister had promised to bring home something to make for dinner. It was eight o’clock now and the younger siblings (and now Penney, too) hadn’t eaten dinner.

But she was worried, too, because she trusted Chiara being safer alone than with someone she had never met. Daisy hadn’t gotten a name, or even if it was a man or a woman. Sure, it was just a day at the zoo -or, it was a day at the zoo. Daisy didn’t know where she could be now.

She let the young teens return to their game.

Chiara finally stumbled in an hour or so later, and Daisy was immediately on her. When Chiara couldn’t -or wouldn’t- be the responsible adult of the house, this duty fell on the middle sister. “Where have you been?” She noticed the Burger King bag in the elder’s hand. “What’s this?”

“Dinner,” Chiara answered simply, dropping it off on the crowded counter. “Hello to you, too.” She peeked her head into the small living room: “You two. Bed.”

“It’s only nine!”

“And a Saturday!”

Chiara glanced at the clock as if for the first time. “... Alright, but brush your teeth before you forget. Better yet, come eat your dinner first and then brush your teeth.”

“Are you drunk?” Daisy asked.

“No, just tired.” Chiara reached behind her head to try untying the green ribbon of her headband. Daisy came up behind her and helped her with the bow. “Thanks. No, I didn’t have anything to drink.”

“Where were you, then?” Daisy kept her nails short, and was herself having trouble with the tight knot.

“On a date, I told you.”

“That was this afternoon. Where have you been since?”

“It wasn’t just a zoo date. She took me to the beach and we watched the sun go down. I fell asleep for a little while…”

So it was a woman. She sounded sweet enough. “Can I get a name?”

“Carmen.”

“Is she nice to you?”

“Yeah, why else would I have been out with her?”

“Just a question.” Finally she managed to untie the ribbon. “Are you working tonight?”

“Ugh, I should…” Chiara sat down at the table and laid her head against the cool wood. “But I’m no fun for them when I’m this tired.”

“Go to bed, then. You can take a night off.”

Chiara yawned and headed to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and went to bed, fully dressed and makeup smudging.

Daisy picked at some fries while the younger two ate in the living room, wrapped up in their game. After remembering how much she hated fast food, she did her own nightly routine, and with a final command of “lights out at eleven,” she went to bed herself.

In between rounds, the two alone in the darkened living room with the brightly colored light of the game flashing over their intent faces, Penney thought to ask,

“What kind of work does your sister do?”

“Which one?” Alessia thought of picking a new character, but she was still fiercely loyal to the green dinosaur.

The girl knew Daisy was a waitress; she had served Penney and her moms on Penney’s last birthday. “Chiara.”

“She’s a model, I’ve told you that.” She finally settled on her usual.

“What else?”

“What do you mean?” She wasn’t paying much attention, still, as it was her turn to pick the track.

“Daisy told her she could afford a night off.”

“Oh, yeah, she does something on the computer… I think I heard Daisy call her a ‘cam girl.’” She wasn’t supposed to have heard that.

“What’s that?”

“Hell if I know… Rainbow Road it is.”

“Fuck you.”


End file.
